501731 Roland Ambiel French Army Stalag 9C also had a section for French prisoners of war. My father Roland Ambiel spent time there. He was taken prisoner in the north of France in May/June 1940, and walked on foot to the North Sea with many other nationalities, English included. It was his first encounter with English soldier prisoners of war.
I know for certain it was Stalag IX C, as all personal documents or photos of prisoners had to be stamped in the famous purple ink with the name of the camp. I have today photos of my family taken in the 30's, stamped with the camp' - ( copies available ). I am aware that he walked from France to an unknown Holland sea port to arrive by boat near/or at Hamburg, where he was send to this camp. He was freed in 1945 by the Russian Army but had to wait for the American Army to arrive in East Prussia /Thuringen when they were placed in trains and transported back to Paris.
I am aware that he encountered some English inmates. He never learnt English, but had a good grasp of the local dialect, as he was forced into working groups in local farms. After a while, transportation to the farms and back to camp was taking so much time out of the day that it was decided that he would have to stay with the farmers, which he did. He recalled the night raids with incendiary bomb drops.
My father was born near Paris in 1913, signed on for the war in late 1939, taken by the Wermart late spring 1940, arrived in Germany early summer 1940. He was with other prisoners in the fields planting potatoes for the next harvest when he saw the tanks of the Red Amy. He was told to stay put until further orders.
I miss my father, he was a good man, he suffered stoically. We talked about his period in Germany. I was young and information technology was just a glimmer in someone's brain. I heard so much and saw the consequences of the war as I was born in 1946, went to school with some of the escaped children of the war from a displaced persons camp which was established in the ancient park of the Convent des Oblats in Saint Ouen, where I lived. I want to know more about my father's time in Germany.
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